What If I Remain Silent?

“You’re not a faithful Christian if you aren’t speaking up!”  If you are even mildly active on social media and/or taking part in conversations about goings on in our world you’ve like heard/read some version of that.  I see it all over. 

ICE abducted person A under such and such circumstances.  You don’t care about justice if you aren’t speaking up!

A church in Minnesota was disrupted by protesters.  You are a coward if you won’t stand up for the church in moments like this!

Minority person A was shot by law enforcement during an arrest.  If you don’t speak up you’re just another MAGA!

An innocent bus rider was stabbed by an illegal alien.  Now is the time to stand up for true Americans if you care!

What if I refuse these urgings or mandates to certain words and actions?  Does that make me a bad Christian?  Do we have the right or responsibility to coerce reactionary words and actions from each other to prove our Christianity?  

I’ll tip my hand to my answers to those questions by noting that I am weary of varying factions demanding that Christians perform on cue as a hasty response to the travesty of the day.  

Who gets to determine which injustices are worthy of extra attention and necessary to speak publicly about?  Do we have any realization just how many injustices are occurring at any given time?  Is there moral superiority in offering a public hue and cry that simply mirrors the news cycle and the algorithm-driven outrage of the day?  For example: A number of years ago a man died in Minneapolis while being arrested. You may have heard of it – a lot.  Outcry ensued.  The CRC made statements.  His life mattered.  We were told to say his name.  But as soon as the news cycle moved on there was a mysterious silence about lives mattering.  Specifically, I mean the spate of murders of young children in Minneapolis that happened soon after.  Their lives mattered.  But they didn’t merit a statement from the CRC.  We were not asked to say their names.  We were not asked or commanded to be outraged about the injustice.  It's almost as if their lives/deaths were not useful for forwarding a preferred narrative and so they were left to the dustbin of history.  Must we be slaves to the news cycle in order to prove our Christianity?  

Should we be more outraged about law enforcement excesses than we are about violent crimes and habitual fraud? Or perhaps the other way around?  Do you get to tell me I need to make a choice between the two?

I find it interesting that the people closest to Christ, those who learned at his feet for years and were directly commissioned by him did not display this sort of behavior.  Despite living in exceedingly wicked times the witness to their words and activities does not record that they spent their time responding to the outrage of the day nor demanding the same of others.  One apostle even had the audacity to say that he resolved to know nothing amongst the church but Christ and him crucified.  

If public moral posturing and protesting was a chief duty of the church, we will find that the early church under the teaching of the apostles was a woefully inadequate church.  

I hope no one hears me wrong: I am not saying that injustice does not matter.  I am not saying that we are to be indifferent to what goes on in our world.  I am not saying that our belief in Christ and him crucified need not be accompanied by works of righteousness (prepared in advance for us) and justice in order to evidence a true and living faith (a la James’ exhortation and Jesus’ rejection of those who refused justice and mercy to the least of these).  

Instead, I think we can and should reject the pattern of demanding reactionary and vocal outrage be demonstrated by others in a manner commensurate with our own preferences or choices.  Sometimes I remain silent.  You do too.  We will do well to stop acting as if we get to offer the activist litmus tests that our fellow Christians must pass.